Never Grow Up
by Pafoof
Summary: James Potter had shown Lily that he had a capability of being a mature, responsible adult but that doesn't mean he wanted to be that way all the time...


"If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"

Written for the Peter Pan challenge by Darke Whispers Thank you!

Lily Potter had been married for fourteen hours, and already she was afraid that maybe they weren't altogether ready for the enormous step marriage was. James was a charming, immature rogue. He had a heart of gold, but his head was always in the clouds. She awoke in their cabin they had rented for ten days for a honeymoon before James had to get back to Auror training and quickly dressed when she figured out that her husband was nowhere to be found. In her mind's eye she hoped he was planning something horribly romantic for their first morning as a married couple,. He had a flair for the romantic without a doubt. She wandered onto their front porch and soon spotted her husband about a hundred feet from the steps of their porch down by the water. She swallowed a laugh at the sight.

James Potter at nineteen sat with sand covering his legs as he built what looked like a sand castle inbetween his legs. It wasn't very tall at all, only one story, and as custom to most little boys had a moat around it and a bridge. James was fixedly trying to build mentioned bridge with twigs found around the area. His tongue stuck out slightly between his teeth as he concentrated and Lily was reminded of the nights she had watched him complete NEWT level essays late at night in their common room with the exact same look on his face.

Lily stepped off their porch and headed to stand behind him. He didn't notice her until she spoke.

"I always imagined I would find my husband drinking coffee the first morning after we were married, possibly still in bed and waiting for me to wake up so we could continue our late night activities and instead I find mine building sand castles." James craned his neck to look up at her with a grin on his face.

"Problem? I woke up nearly three hours ago, no clue when you would be up so I wandered down here. Come on, you can help me make it look a little more inpressive." He proceeded to climb to his feet with the proud little boy grin on his face and he could be an unusually tall six year old. Lily pursed her lips, at first it was cute and endearing but now he was supposed to abandon his childish nostalgia and come join her to get ready for the tours and other things she had planned for them to do.

"James, we have to be at a tour in an hour. You now need to completely get ready all over again." Suddenly from out of nowhere, a surge of panic hit Lily. What kind of man had she married? Had she married the kind who would never be able to raise a child because he would be too busy being one? Could he be up for the task of helping her protect their family from an evil wizard? Oh God, she couldn't have made that mistake. "We really don't have time for your childish games. Let's go." James looked positively alarmed by her change in tone as he slowly stepped around his castle.. Lily lead the way to the cabin so they could begin their day properly.

!

The sun was setting over the ocean and once again the pair of them had ended up on the beach. The view was breath taking and Lily was wrapped up against James as they sat on a bench in front of the water. The entire beach was mostly empty by this time and the gentle waves were the only sound they could hear besides the heartbeats of the other. The wind barely rustled trash left behind by people wandering the beach all day. Even in the face of such tranquility, Lily was worried , a niggling feeling in the back of her mind unlike the consuming worry she always had these days, about James. He had been the model husband all day and was much like the mature James she had found their seventh year but there was lacking the random cracks that would make her snort every time without fail. He didn't make fun of one tour guide or talk about any escapades he had had with his friends. Both of these were highly unlike the man she fell in love with. During dinner he had become positively distant and now his eyes were locked away down the beach. Lily followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at the sand castle he had built earlier that morning. It had withstood the wave of tourists somehow and was still standing. She couldn't read the look in his eyes so she just had to go for it and ask.

"James? Is something wrong? You've been awfully quiet today." James seemed to come back to her as he kissed her gently and focused his gaze on her once more. His hazel eyes were clouded slightly but the longer they met hers the more they cleared to be bright again like they had been only forty eight hours ago as they danced for the first time as husband and wife.

"D'you want to know what my favorite muggle story was in muggle studies? We did a whole unit on muggle children stories and there was one that I always thought was brilliant and I swore I was going to tell my son one day." Lily sat up so she was no longer leaning on him and turned to tuck one leg underneath her and face him fully. There were shadows on is face from the setting sun but she was pulled into his strong gaze as he stared directly at her.

"Which one was it? I loved stories when I was a little girl. My mum and I were always picking up a book or two at least once a week."

"It was Peter Pan." Lily smiled as she could see how the story could appeal to the marauders very much.

"That is a good one, all the fantasy and adventure. Hogwarts seemed like those stories for me, some crazy adventure that no one else would ever believe."

"I always liked to think that even after Peter grew up that he never lost the part of him that was determined to stay young. He would always want to climb a tree or do a cannon ball just for the thrill of the splash or get excited about Christmas and birthdays. I hope I'm like that too." James stood and wandered so that he stood in front of his tiny castle.

Lily felt a pang of guilt hit her as she realized how condescending she must have sounded earlier this morning. She stepped forward and took James' hand.

"I know you're like that, it's one of your endearing qualities." James snorted sceptically as he glanced sideways at her.

"I have a lot of sides Lily, part of me is the little kid who just wants to get dirty and build castles and run in the creek. Part of me is the man who loves being an adult and being married to an amazing woman and making love to you at every opportunity. Part of me is a fierce fighter in the Order that has the capability in him to kill a man. You married me, all of me, not just the sides you deem acceptable in a married man. I want to share all this with you, I wan to be able to play in the sand with you or climb trees just to sit at the top and feel like the king of the world. I want to do everything with you Lils because I love you." Lily sniffed and sat down to put her feet in the edge of the water. She swallowed a lump in her throat as James sat next to her and splashed a little water on her half on purpose. She smiled even as a few tears fell down her face. James was so much deeper than anyone would ever know and she was so grateful that she got to be part of it.

"C'mon love, let's go finish that castle."

Fin


End file.
